Text & Video. The first ever TV debate between presidential candiddates and the first of four between the clean-cut senator from Massachusetts and the sitting Vice-President. Is this a victory of style over substance?

Text & video - while inaugural speeches are often soft on policy detail - given their formal function - they do offer an insight into the tone and aspirations of the presidency to come. How does Kennedy's speech set out his agenda? Did he live up to it?

Extracts from a key document in the history of the New Left. Famed for it's call for a renergised 'participatory democracy' how does this document reflect the impact of the Civil Rights Movement? Equally how - and why - does it differ from the agenda of SDS in 1969?

Students for a Democratic Society proved to be an organisation both typical of the New Left and reflective of its development. These pdfs provide an insight into how SDS moved from calls for reform, to radicalism and then on to calls for revolution in the space of a decade. How do the documents help explain that path?

Between 1963 and 1969 Lyndon B. Johnson secretly recorded roughly 800 hours of conversations. The collection primarily consists of telephone recordings that Johnson made during his time in office - covering a range of domestic and foreign policy issues. In 1968, Johnson began recording meeting conversations. The Miller Center has posted many of these without an index. This site is good for browsing. If you wish to hunt for specific, there is an inde heldonline at the Johnson library.

The University of California Berkeley's own range of resources detailing the 1964 stand-off between students and the university over the meaning of higher education and the right to engage in political campaigning on campus.

Text & video. This was the speech that marked Ronald Reagan's arrival in American politics and, along with the ideas of Barry Goldwater, marked out a new path for American conservatism. How did Reagan critique the state of America at a time when many perceived the nation was at its most affluent and powerful?

How have comics reflected the wider political culture of the period in which they were produced? A good place to begin addressing that question is a consideration of Marvel Comics' Iron Man. This site gives a plot breakdown of a number of comics starring Iron Man which featured a Cold War plot line.

Ramparts was a magazine of the New Left. This edition features reports, interviews and essays regarding the Delano grape strike - a key moment in the foundation of the United Farmworkers of America - the interracial labor union that effectively deployed non-violent tactics to transform an employment struggle into a moral crusade. How do these articles reflect the wider trends of the period?

Part 1 of 4 of a PBS documentary regarding the crisis that unfolded in August 1968 at the Democratic National Convention. Why was their chaos in the convention and a 'police riot' in the streets? Pts 2-4 also on YouTube.

New York University's archival collection of images and documents detailing the university's role in the countercultural movement of the 1960s. Contains a timeline, photos, reports from the university newspaper and other material. A great example of how the campus became a battleground during the cultural and political conflicts of the 1960s & 70s.

The relative success of George Wallace's 3rd party campaign in 1968 mattered because his appeal was not restricted to the South. Why would this agenda appeal to what Peter Shrag identified as 'the forgotten American'?